Automatic air-brake-operating device



(No-Model.) I

D. BENTLEY.

AUTOMATIC AIR'BRAKE OPERATING DEVICE.

No; 574,656, Patented Jan. 5, 1897..

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DAVID BENTLEY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMATIC AlR-BRAKE-OPERATING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 574,656, dated January5,1897.

Application filed May 23, 1896.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, DAVID BENTLEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAutomatic Air-Brake-Operating Devices; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in safety attachments forrailway-locomotives and the like; and it consists in the novel devicesand combinations hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is had to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same partsare indicated by the same letters throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a locomotive provided with my improvedguard-rail for the cow-catcher and the connection with the main drum ofair-brake system. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional View taken on theline 2 2 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail sectional Viewtaken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

A represents the locomotive, which is provided with the usual air-pumpsA and air drum or reservoir B, connected by a pipe at, as shown inFig. 1. A pipe 0 leads from the air reservoir through the cab of thelocomotive, where it is provided with a valve for operation by theengineer, and leading backward from the locomotive is provided with asuitable coupling for connection with pipes leading to thebrake-cylinders of the cars, as in the well-known Westinghouse system ofair-brakes.

I make no claim to the air-brake system as described above, it beingshown in the drawings and herein referred to simply in order that aclear understanding of my invention may be had.

My invention consists as follows:

Referring more particularly to Figs. 2 and 3, D represents a pipeleading from the airreservoir B forward beneath the locomotive to apoint under the front thereof immediately in rear of cow-catcher F,where it connects with one or a pair of branch pipes E, which leadbackward and connect at their rear ends with the air-pipe O, or, ifpreferred, these Serial No. 592,801. (No model.)

pipes E may lead by means of independent connections to thebrake-cylinders beneath the cars of the train. A valve 01 is provided inthe pipe D near its junction with the pipes E, andalever or arm dextends laterally from said valve for operating the same.

The cow-catcher F may be of any suitable construction and attached tothe front of the locomotive in any suitable manner. The base F of thecow-catcher is provided withafender or guard composed of two sections Hand H, as seen in Fig. 2. One section, II, of this guard is shorter thanthe other and straight, while the other one, H, is made long enough toextend over the point of the cow-catcher and is bent backward, as at h,toward the forward end h of the shorter section II. The two sections ofthis guard are connected to the base of the cow-catcher by means ofbolts h adapted to slide backward and forward through the base-timbersF, and coil-springs h surrounding these sliding bolts, normally hold thetwo sections of the guard forward. Rods h are connected to each of thesesections II and 1-1 and are pivotally connected at their rear ends tothe two sliding bars I and I, the rods from each section to itscorresponding sliding bar being separate and independent of the othersection and its corresponding sliding bar. The rear ends of these twosliding bars I and I areslotted, as shown in Fig. 3, forming elongatedlinks adapted to receive the arm d of the valve cl. The end of the arm dis preferably made T- shaped, as shown at d for preventing thedisengagement of the'links v1 and '11 therefrom, but any other suitablemeans may be provided for this purpose. The sliding bars I and I restupon the cross-piece F of the cow-catcher, and are adapted to slidefreely backward or forward with the sections of the guard.

The object of having the slots in the rear ends of the sliding barselongated, as shown, is to prevent the yielding guard from turning thearm cl back to its original position, and thus closing the valve whenthe said guard rebounds, as it is likely to do after an object has beenstruck and thrown off from it. 'By having these links made long enoughthe bars may slide back to their normal position after opening the valvewithout moving the arm d,

which may be thrown to the closed position by hand or in any othersuitable manner after the train has come to a standstill.

The operation of my devices is as follows: When an obstruction is struckby either one of the sections II or II of the cow-catcher guard, thecorresponding sliding bar I or I will be thrown backward and will turnthe arm (1 of the valve cl to the open position, allowing the compressedair to escape from the pipeD to the branch pipes E, and thence back tothe main supply-pipe 0, leading to the brake-cylinders on the cars, andthus applying the brakes automatically. Upon the rebound of the guardthe sliding bar will be drawn forward again, but the length of the linkon its rear end will allow it to return to its full forward positionwithout throwing the arm d to the closed position. The pressure willthus be maintained in the brake system until the train comes to astandstill, independently of whether the engineer opens his valve in thecab or not. After the train has come to a standstill the valve 01 canreadily be closed and the pressure from the auxiliary pipes be removed.

It will be seen that I provide a very simple and efficient means forapplying the airbrakes and stopping the forward motion of a trainautomatically upon its striking an obstruction on the track.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The combination with a locomotive carrying an air pump and reservoir,and connections for operating a system of air-brakes from the cabthereof, of a pipe leading from the air-reservoir forward beneath thelocomotive, to the front end thereof; a valve in said pipe at or nearits forward end; an arm on said valve for operating the same; branchpipes leading from the front end of said pipe backward and connected tothe main air-pipe to the brake system, a yielding guard composed of twoindependent sections carried by the front of the cow-catcher; a pair ofsliding bars connected to the arm on said valve, and a plurality of rodspivoted to each of said sliding bars and connected to each section ofsaid yielding guards, whereby the said valve may be opened when eitherof said sections strikes an obstruction, independently of the other,substantially as described.

2. The combination with a locomotive carrying an air pump and reservoir,and connections for operating a system of air-brakes from the cabthereof, of a pipe leading from the air-reservoir forward beneath thelocomotive to the front end thereof; a valve in said pipe at or near itsforward end; an arm on said valve for operating the same; branch pipesleading from the front end of said pipe backward and connected to themain air-pipe to the brake system, a yielding guard composed of twoindependent sections carried by the front of the cow-catcher; a pair ofsliding bars each having an elongated link at its rear end engaging thearm on said valve; and a plurality of rods independently connected toeach section of said yielding guard and independently pivoted to theforward end of each said sliding arms, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a locomotive carrying an air pump and reservoir,and pipes leading from said reservoir to a system of airbrakes; of thepipe D leading forward beneath the locomotive to the front end thereofand having a valve 61 therein; the arm d on said valve; branch pipes Eleading from the forward end of said pipeD backward and connected to themain supply-pipe to the brake system; a yielding guard composed of thetwo independent sections II and II, the latter having the curved end h;the sliding bars I and I provided with elongated links 2' and t" attheir rear ends engaging the arm d on said valve d; rods pivoted tosliding bar I and connected to said section H, and rods pivoted to saidsliding bar I and connected to said section 11, each section adapted toopen the valve when an obstruction is struck thereby, independently ofthe other section, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DAVID BENTLEY.

Witnesses:

XVILLIAM K. BENTLEY, J NO. B. BENTLEY.

